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Topic: Fender Vibro Champ for PEDAL STEEL! |
Nathan Guilford
From:
Oklahoma City
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Posted 20 Mar 2020 6:45 pm |
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Now this goes against everything I've ever thought about what I needed for a pedal steel amp. My '76 Vibro Champ sounds amazing at bedroom levels and on stage with singer-songwriter type gigs (no drummer). Before you throw stones - take a listen.
https://www.facebook.com/nathan.guilford.1/videos/10219526814018771/
(Ignore the pitchy vocals please and the clams)
The Vibro Champ has only 5 watts, Warehouse g8c speaker, no reverb. I had the vibrato off. I did have a tiny bit of analog delay on. I'm soooo happy with that tone. Anybody else use amps this tiny for steel? What's your experience? Is it the speaker upgrade that has made this amp so good?
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'02 Carter S-12 uni
‘76 MSA D-12
www.toothbrushers.com |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2020 7:46 pm
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Cool! Thanks for sharing, it does sound great. I had great tone (IMHO) with a 1952 Fender Champ, an earlier tweed version and loved it. I used digital reverb with it. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcf6kqvsXu8
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Nathan Guilford
From:
Oklahoma City
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Posted 20 Mar 2020 7:59 pm
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Wow Dave. Yeah...I’d say GREAT tone on that one!
_________________
'02 Carter S-12 uni
‘76 MSA D-12
www.toothbrushers.com |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Ross Shafer
From:
Petaluma, California
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Posted 21 Mar 2020 7:46 am
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| Champs rule!! |
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Michael Butler
From:
California, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2020 8:04 am
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i have a 75 vibro champ and 76 champ. they both work well, especially together.
play music!
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please see my Snakeskin's Virtual Music Museum below.
http://muscmp.wordpress.com/ |
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Gene Tani
From:
Pac NW
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Posted 22 Mar 2020 8:17 am
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Yup, sounds great, that would be a bawlin' steel
So it's just MSA/alumitone > VP > Champ?
_________________
- keyless Sonny Jenkins laps stay in tune forever!; Carter PSG
- The secret sauce: polyester sweatpants to buff your picks, cheapo Presonus channel strip for preamp/EQ/compress/limiter, Diet Mountain Dew |
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Nathan Guilford
From:
Oklahoma City
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Posted 22 Mar 2020 10:55 am
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Yes. kind of. 1976 MSA D12 with an alumitone on E9, lil izzy, goodrich 120 volume, boss dd-7 on analog setting barely on, 1976 fender vibro champ with upgraded 8" warehouse g8c speaker, and whatever reverb is in my spare bedroom. Set the volume knob on between 3 and 4 on the volume knob so I can sing over it. (poorly) 
Recorded with my iPhone. Hopelessly old model.
_________________
'02 Carter S-12 uni
‘76 MSA D-12
www.toothbrushers.com |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 22 Mar 2020 12:06 pm
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The Vibro Champ is a great amp. I've had a bunch of them, and every time I get rid of one, I bang my head on the wall and ask myself, "Why?".
I've used them for mostly-acoustic gigs. They can get over a real tasteful bass and drummer with brushes or side-stick. And if close-mic'd, they can sound good in a lot of different contexts if good monitoring is available.
To me, the original speakers tended to be pretty weak, and it's kind of hard to find 8" speakers that quite fill the bottom end up. But if the volume is kept low, they can sound quite good and reasonably full. But once they're pushed, the upper-midrange and treble just take over. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you want. But forget about anything in the lower end.
With one band, I had a "sound guy" bitching about my pedal steel stage volume with a Deluxe Reverb. This was a full band with a loud drummer, electric bass, Hammond A100 with Leslie, amplified acoustic guitar, and me on guitar and steel. But I wanted to work with him, and I brought in, successively, a Princeton Reverb, Gibson GA-8T, and then a Vibro Champ. After he told me the Vibro Champ was too damned loud, I told him he was an idiot and brought a Twin Reverb next time. He was an idiot. |
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Nathan Guilford
From:
Oklahoma City
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Posted 22 Mar 2020 12:32 pm
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Ha! I had a similar experience when the sound man kept telling me to turn down, I hit the standby switch on my amp. No sound at all. When he told me that was still too loud, I knew who I was dealing with. IDIOT!
_________________
'02 Carter S-12 uni
‘76 MSA D-12
www.toothbrushers.com |
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